


Aggressive Optimism

by LadyAniko



Series: Fire & Water [7]
Category: Avatar: The Last Airbender
Genre: Alternate Universe - High School, Alternate Universe - Modern Setting, F/M, Fluff, Ft. Ty Lee as a great wingman, Getting Together, Humor, Pining Zuko (Avatar), Zuko is an Awkward Turtleduck
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-13
Updated: 2021-01-13
Packaged: 2021-03-18 02:15:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,919
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28735599
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/LadyAniko/pseuds/LadyAniko
Summary: “I did something very stupid,” says Zuko.“Oh, I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” says Ty Lee.“Katara kissed me,” he tells her, and it sounds so surreal coming out of his mouth, admitting that simple fact, because it really isn’t simple to Zuko at all. “And I said ‘thank you’.”Or: Ty Lee helps Zuko get his crap together and ask Katara out.
Relationships: Katara/Zuko (Avatar), Ty Lee & Zuko (Avatar)
Series: Fire & Water [7]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/2098116
Comments: 12
Kudos: 177





	Aggressive Optimism

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by [this post](https://stardust948.tumblr.com/post/640072092639002625/ty-lee-sitting-next-to-zuko-oh-it-couldnt) on Tumblr. I could not get that exchange out of my head so I sat down today and just...wrote this, so editing may be a little rough. Feel free to let me know if you see any big mistakes or if I used the same verb five times in one paragraph.🤣 Hope you enjoy, and thank you so much for reading!

Zuko is walking to his locker in a dazed state of complete and total dysfuntion—honestly, it's a true wonder his limbs even work at all at the moment—when a melodic, cheerful voice rings loudly through the hall.

"Oh! _There_ you are, Zuko!"

People mingling at their lockers turn to stare as Ty Lee practically skips through the hall. People always stare whenever Ty Lee does anything. For one, she's loud. For another, she has this ethereal, acrobatic way of moving that always draws nearby gazes. Zuko supposes that she's also objectively rather pretty, though he can't say he's ever cared about that when it comes to Ty Lee.

Besides, for the past — six months? longer? far too long, at any rate — Zuko has been distinctly preoccupied with noticing someone else.

An image of big blue eyes from only minutes before sweeps across his mind's eye and he feels a curious, confusing mixture of emotions that he unsuccessfully tries to squash down: shame and mortification, exhilaration and euphoria.

Zuko grits his teeth and jerks his locker open so hard a sticky note pinned to the door comes fluttering down to the floor.

Ty Lee bends to pick it up and replaces it for him. "You seem moody," she says brightly, nudging him. "More so than usual, I mean."

Zuko just grunts in return, shoving his books roughly into his bag.

"Tell me what happened," she wheedles.

"Nothing happened." He slams the door again and turns to go. Ty Lee prances after him, unperturbed by his lack of social graces.

"Liar," she says. "Come on, I can help."

"You are aware that there are some things that even your aggressive optimism can't help, right?" Zuko hoists his bag higher with a scowl, thinking of how those blue eyes had clouded with confusion after...

Ugh, what had he been thinking? Had he been thinking at all?

Answers, apparently, point to no.

Why couldn't he be one of those guys that responded properly without thinking? The smooth kind that can somehow turn suave and sexy on instinct rather than turn stuttering and stupid?

Maybe he should skip Calc tomorrow. The thought of seeing her at the desk beside his tomorrow morning is beyond horrifying.

"Earth to Zuko!"

"Huh?" Zuko blinks over at Ty Lee, who is staring at him, eyebrows raised. "Sorry," he mutters, when he realizes she said something that he hadn't heard.

"Now you really have to tell," she says. "Spill." She gives him a stern look, and Zuko groans. He glances around, making sure they won't be heard, but the courtyard is empty as they make their way across it to the parking lot.

Dark storm clouds are gathering. How fitting.

"It's Katara," he says finally, fingers gripping tightly to the bag strap on his shoulder. "She, uh—well, she uh—"

"Spit it out!" Ty Lee laughs, shoves her books into his arms, and does a cartwheel in the grass before they hit the sidewalk. " _Relax_!"

Zuko has long ago given up on the idea of Ty Lee walking or doing much of anything in a conventional way, so he just rolls his eyes and hands her books back over when she straightens up, flushed and grinning.

“I did something very stupid,” says Zuko.

“Oh, I’m sure it wasn’t that bad,” says Ty Lee.

“Katara kissed me,” he tells her, and it sounds so surreal coming out of his mouth, admitting that simple fact, because it really isn’t simple to Zuko at all. _Katara kissed me._ His crush on Katara—Katara, the kind, beautiful captain of the fencing team, a staunch and passionate member of the debate team, secretary of the student body, and definitely way, way out of his league—has been torturing him. That she’d actually stood on her tiptoes and kissed him like that, soft and warm and tentative, was like something from his wildest dreams.

Ty Lee lets out a sound that is somewhere between a squeal and a gasp. If they still had been on the grass, she probably would have cartwheeled again. Her face lights up and she looks like she’s about to ask detailed and enthusiastic questions.

Zuko decides to cut it off before it can begin. “And I said ‘thank you’.”

Ty Lee’s pace falters a second, and Zuko’s gaze cuts over. She quickly schools her expression into careful neutrality, but he’d seen the slight eye widen and the twitch of her mouth. He groans again, louder this time.

“Well, that was very polite of you.” Her tone has a soothing quality to it, like she’s trying to talk him up. This is just making it all worse.

“Just kill me now,” Zuko mutters, as they reach his car and the first drops of rain start to fall. He heaves a deep, long-suffering sigh as he tosses his bag in the backseat and Ty Lee copies him.

“I bet she thought it was cute,” Ty Lee offers.

“Save it.”

“I’m serious! I think it’s cute when someone is flustered over me.”

“You think everything is cute.”

Ty Lee giggles. “That’s true. I do. But you’re focusing on the negatives! She _kissed_ you! Doesn’t that count for something?”

“Yes,” says Zuko hoarsely, because of course it does, and thinking about that does make him feel a warm blaze of optimism. It’s extinguished promptly, however, by the memory of the look on her face when he’d _thanked_ her. Like she'd let him borrow a pencil, or something. “Unfortunately it doesn’t really help me with somehow getting it to happen again.” He presses his forehead into the side of the car before miserably moving to open the door.

“I wouldn’t be so sure,” Ty Lee says. “I think there’s another positive.”

“What?” He looks round at her, but she’s smiling at something over his shoulder.

“Yeah,” she says. “And there it is.”

She points and Zuko whirls to look, heart thudding. The rain has already started to fall more steadily and Katara is indeed hurrying toward them, her hood pulled up over her hair, books tucked protectively under her coat.

“Oh shit,” Zuko mumbles, panicking. “Shit, Ty Lee, what do I—”

“Act natural,” she says into his ear, before bounding forward as Katara draws nearer. “Hi, Katara!” Ty Lee greets, bubbling with enthusiasm.

“Hi,” Katara says kindly, looking rather bemused, and then her eyes move to Zuko’s. “Hi,” she says again, in a much different tone, soft and a little breathless, a tone that inspires another warm bout of optimism in him.

“Hi,” he replies, urging himself to sound normal.

Katara appears a little uncomfortable. “Um—look, I know I ran off earlier for practice, but it turns out they cancelled because of weather warnings—sent out a group text that I didn’t see, so no one was there, and my brother has the car, and, um, I know it’s maybe a lot to ask—”

“Of _course_ we can give you a ride!” Ty Lee gushes, reaching for Katara’s arm and pulling her toward the car. “Right, Zuko?”

“Yeah,” he says, swallowing hard. “Yeah, of course.”

“Thank you,” she says, relieved; a small, fascinating blush has bloomed across her cheeks, but Zuko only gets a glimpse, because Ty Lee is leading her to the passenger seat, chattering happily.

“I’m closer,” Ty Lee says from the backseat when Katara explains where she lives. “Drop me off first, Zuko.”

Zuko is actually thankful that Ty Lee is there to keep up the conversation. And keep it up she does, effortlessly guiding them all through any too-long pauses. It’s when Zuko has pulled up to the curb outside her place that he begins to panic again, because he realizes he has no idea what he will say to Katara once they are alone. He chances a glance over to see that Katara's hands are twisting in her lap.

She catches him looking and gives him a small smile. His mouth promptly goes dry.

Ty Lee’s head is poked into the backseat as she gathers her things. “Oh, Zuko,” she says, far too sweetly, “Don’t forget about those reservations.”

“Huh? Reservations?” He turns and stares at his friend, bewildered.

“Yeah, you know,” says Ty Lee, giving him a very significant look and pointedly dragging her gaze between him and Katara, “Those _reservations_. This weekend? At that _restaurant_ you really like?”

Heat flares in Zuko's neck. He’s going to have words with her about subtlety. “Right,” is all he says, unable to glare at her with Katara looking.

“Bye!” Ty Lee beams at them both before shutting the door and trotting up the walk, disappearing into her home.

For a moment, Zuko just sits at the steering wheel, frantically searching for the right words to say, but Katara beats him to conversation. “Reservations?”

“Yeah,” says Zuko. “Yeah, um—so Katara—” He lets out a frustrated breath at his own incompetence and looks over at her. “Do you, uh, want to—come?” He notices how that may sound and scrambles to add, flushing furiously, “To the restaurant! Uh, you know. With—with me. This, uh, weekend.”

Katara’s smile widens.

And then she leans forward, fluttering her lashes, and Zuko forgets to breathe. She stops just inches from his face. “If I do,” she asks, “will you kiss me again?”

Zuko would gladly kiss her as much as she’d like him to. He’d never stop kissing her, if that’s what she wanted. “Yeah,” he rasps. She’s so close. Does she mean right now? Should he just lean forward? Her mouth is _so_ perfect—

“Do it,” she whispers, and so he does.

She makes a little sound against his mouth when he kisses her. She hadn’t done that last time. It’s pleased, and a little bit surprised from his suddenness. Still, he’s careful to kiss her gently. He doesn’t want to scare her off. This is rapidly becoming one of the best days of his life and now he’s very determined not to ruin it. So even though he wants to yank her closer, pull her onto his lap, even, move her head to expose her neck and find the spots that elicit that sound again, he doesn’t. He only holds her face, still half afraid it isn’t real, half expecting it to disappear through his fingers like water, and kisses her over and over until his head spins.

“Thank you,” she says when they break apart, and he opens his eyes to see her looking a little mischievous. And then she giggles quietly at the look on his face.

“Too soon,” he murmurs, but a lazy, relaxed smile has pulled his lips upward.

He still hasn’t let go of her face. She doesn’t seem to mind.

“You’re cute,” she tells him, kissing him softly again. “And I really like you.”

“Me too,” he says. “You have no idea.”

Katara gives him a beatific smile. “If you’re hungry,” she suggests, “we could just get something now? Why wait, right?”

Zuko’s heart leaps; his fingers move across her cheekbones. “Good idea.”

He kisses her again, intending it to be only one more time; but then he’s doing it again, and again, and finally he’s able to break away to start the car. The rain pattering on the roof is no longer gloomy, an omen of a bad afternoon. When he pulls away from the curb and Katara eagerly pulls out her phone to play him some music, he puts it on his mental checklist to text Ty Lee later and thank her.

**Author's Note:**

> You can also find me [on Tumblr.😊](https://ladyaniko.tumblr.com)


End file.
